A Review and Integrative Analysis of Ancient Holistic Character Medicine Systems

Søren Ventegodt; Suzette Thegler; Tove Andreasen; Flemming Struve; Susan Jacobsen; Margrethe Torp; Hans Ægedius; Lars Enevoldsen; Joav Merrick

Authors

Søren Ventegodt Quality of Life Research Center, DK-1452 Copenhagen K, Denmark
Suzette Thegler Research Clinic for Holistic Medicine, Copenhagen, Denmark
Tove Andreasen Research Clinic for Holistic Medicine, Copenhagen, Denmark
Flemming Struve Research Clinic for Holistic Medicine, Copenhagen, Denmark
Susan Jacobsen Research Clinic for Holistic Medicine, Copenhagen, Denmark
Margrethe Torp Interuniversity College, Graz, Austria
Hans Ægedius Research Clinic for Holistic Medicine, Copenhagen, Denmark
Lars Enevoldsen Research Clinic for Holistic Medicine, Copenhagen, Denmark
Joav Merrick National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Jerusalem, Israel

Keywords:

clinical holistic medicine, character medicine, Hippocrates, Ayurveda, Yin-Yang, cosmology, salutogenesis, energy-medicine, CAM, mind-body medicine, sense of coherence

Abstract

The ancient holistic medical systems help the patient by balancing the “elements” of the human character. This work aims to understand the nature of these elements and the process of the physician balancing them. Using the concept of poly-ray cosmology we see that the medical systems from ancient India, China and Greek basically share the same inner structure and also the same logic of the treatment processes. We analyze the double concept of yin-yang, the Ayurvedic triadic concepts of Pitta, Kapha and Vata, the four elements of Hippocratic humoral medicine, and the five elements of Chinese medicine, and find that each of these conceptual frameworks make up a “theory” or model of the world that is a perfect wholeness, allowing the physician to interpret the world and his patient in order to identify the imbalances of his or her character that need to be treated. Independently of the system this can be a palliative treatment, if energies are only balanced in present time, or a causal cure if the physician is using the similarity principle to take his patient into regression back to the events in the personal history that originally created the imbalances (the traumas). To help the patient back to the traumas he is exposed to a small dose of the original harming stimulus; this can be an internal process like visualization supported by the therapist words, or an external process provoked by his actions. If the physician is balancing the elements without such a healing of the patient's existential core this can still momentarily help the patient by alleviating the symptoms, but it will not have a permanent effect. Keywords: clinical holistic medicine, character medicine, Hippocrates, Ayurveda, Yin-Yang, cosmology, salutogenesis, energy-medicine, CAM, mind-body medicine, sense of coherence